Critical Thinking

1. Describe critical thinking (CT), clinical reasoning (CR), and clinical judgment (CJ).
2. Give at least 3 reasons why CT skills are essential for students and nurses.
3. Explain (or map) how the following terms are related to one another: critical thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, decision-making, problem-solving, and nursing process.
4. Identify four principles of the scientific method that are evident in CT.
5. Compare and contrast the terms problem-focused thinking and outcome-focused thinking.
6. Clarify the term critical thinking indicator (CTI).
7. Use CTIs, together with the 4-Circle CT model, to identify five CT characteristics you’d like to improve.
8. Explain why knowing the nursing process is needed for CR and for passing NCLEX® and other standard tests.
9. Identify the relationships among healthy workplaces, learning cultures, safety cultures, and CT.
10. Compare and contrast the terms thinking ahead, thinking-in-action, and thinking back.

11 Describe five main steps to developing critical thinking.
12 Explain the relationship between skilled communication and CT.
13 Clarify how your personality, learning style, upbringing, and culture affect how you think.
14 Identify strategies to develop your emotional intelligence (EI).
15 Explain why building trust and following a code of conduct are key to promoting critical thinking.
16 Identify the roles of logic, intuition, and trial and error in critical thinking.
17 Determine your progress toward developing critical thinking indicators related to knowledge and intellectual skills.
18 Explain why practicing responding to things gone wrong promotes critical thinking.
19 Identify three best practices for evaluating nurses’ critical thinking skills.